Dark Void [preview]

Third person-action shooter meets aerial combat in this upcoming game for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

When we first saw this game, we thought of the 1991 movie – The Rocketeer. That movie was about a boy who finds a jetpack and becomes a masked hero, saving people and foiling those dastardly Nazis… Dark Void is also a story about a man in his twenties, who gets a jetpack and joins the fight, against this decade’s favourite villains — the aliens.

Dark Void is being developed by Airtight Games and is going to be published by Capcom; we got a sneak preview of the game and let’s tell you — it was a lot of fun doing mid air battles in a jet pack.

The preview build that we got our hands on let us play as cargo pilot Will – the protagonist – who gets flies too close to the Bermuda Triangle and gets sucked into a different realm, tch tch. This realm is now inhabited by an alien race called the Watchers. These aliens were originally on Earth, but were transported to this realm by an ancient race of people called the Adepts.

So much for the back story.

The game itself is really fun as you have to make your way back to Earth by using alien technology and you have to defeat some pretty tough opponents along the way with the help of Nikola Tesla and her crazy inventions.

We got to play a few levels of Dark Void; one was just the training part where you get used to the controls and mid-air combat system. You have two options to attack while in the air – either use the guns attached to the jetpack, or just hover in mid-air and shoot with the weapon you have on you. The second option is quite risky in intense dog fight scenarios, as you will be getting attacked from all sides. You are not always given the jetpack though, it’s a progressive system as there was a level where Nikola gets captured and you have to kill the alien Knight on foot itself. But this wasn’t hard as there are a lot of structures to duck and cover and play defensively as well; although ducking behind a cover like a turtle is not the wisest course as the game features splash damage – rockets fired in front of you will damage you even when you are taking cover. In our time with the game we got to experience a great dog-fight where we were tasked with taking down enemy turrets. Here, another fun element shone through — we found out that you can take control of an enemy ship! It was like jacking a car in GTA but much cooler and fun to boot. While in flight, you can also dodge aerial attacks by performing some really cool evasive manoeuvres.

Dark Void also lets you upgrade and tweak your weapons and jet pack. You can also pick up dropped alien technology… Dark Void is scheduled for release in September. Watch this space for the full review once it’s out!

Follow Us

Kumar Jhuremalani